Desert Bloom is about the lost innocence of an adolescent girl, her family, and an entire country. Set in early 1951, the film chronicles the tumultuous coming-of-age of a thirteen-year-old (Annabeth Gish) in an unsettled household roiling with an alcoholic stepfather (Jon Voight), traumatized by memories of WWII; a frustrated mother (Jobeth Williams) seeking comfort in the vacuity of fifties optimism, and a worldly aunt (Ellen Barkin) who brings a frankness of feeling to this nuclear unit. On the outskirts of their dusty Nevada town, the government is preparing Yucca Flats for A-bomb testing. Director Corr uses the bomb as a metaphor, almost a character, that parallels the disruption of the family but also suggests a generalized sense of cultural helplessness. As the mushroom cloud rises above the horizon, we are reminded of the fragility of the single family dwelling.-Steve Seid